Original woodcut printed in black ink on laid paper.
15 1/4 x 11 1/8 inches
c.1496-97
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Signed in the block with the artist's monogram lower center.
One of sixteen woodcuts (fifteen plates and title page) created by Dürer to illustrate the last book of the New Testament, The Revelations of Saint John the Divine, The Apocalypse.
A strong 16th century/lifetime impression, from the Latin edition of 1511 with the Latin letterpress text on the verso.
Trimmed down to or just outside the borderline on all four sides, otherwise in excellent condition. Provenance: ex-collection Alexandre-Pierre-Frabcois Robert-Dumesnil [French 1778 1864] noted art historian and author of Peintre-Graveur Francais, known not only for his expertise in fine prints, but also for the superior quality of his collection of Old Master prints, with his collection stamp (Lugt 2200) in the paper lower center, recto. Revelation 9: (13) The sixth angel blew his trumpet: and I heard a voice from the four corners of the golden alter which before God, (14) saying to the sixth angel, who held the trumpet: set free the sour angels who are bound by the great river Euphrates. (15) And the four angels were set free, they who were ready for the hour and the day and the month and the year, to kill a third part of mankind. (16) And the number of the cavalry was twenty thousand times ten thousand, I heard their number. (17) And thus I saw in my vision the horses and their riders, wearing breastplates colored as red as fire, dark blue, and yellow as sulphur; and the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions, and out of their mouths issued fire, smoke and sulphur. (18) By these three plagues; fire, smoke, and sulphur, which issued from their mouths , a third of mankind was killed. (19) For the power of the horses in their mouths and their tails; for their tails are like serpents, and have heads, and with them they did harm. Dürer omits the sounding of the fifth trumpet that has released the plague of the locusts. But he renders the sixth blast in great detail and even adds some of his own ideas. The voice emanating from the four corners of the alter is signified by the heads of four putti. The heavenly cavalry rides fire-spouting, lion-headed horses, although the tails lack the additional heads mention in the text. however, Dürer endows God the Father with the four trumpets that have already been sounded, and adds a gratuitous angel in the upper left. In contrast to the spacious and lofty upper half, the battle of the angels crowds the bottom of the sheet. The power of the angels is enhanced by their back to back placement, and the multitude comprising a third of mankind is emphasized by showing it curtailed and cut off by the border lines. The river Euphrates, with a ship sinking into it, is just visible in the background.
Bartsch 69; Kurth 113; Meder 171; Hollstein 171; Panofsky 289; Strauss 49
